Cairn Energy, the Edinburgh-headquartered oil & gas firm, said progress in the North Sea, Norway, Africa and Mexico will make for “another busy and successful year” for the firm.

Ahead of its AGM in the Scottish capital, Cairn Energy chief executive Simon Thomson highlighted production of first oil from the Catcher and Kraken developments in the North Sea as among the key achievements of the past year.

Both developments are ramping up to achieve full capacity production by mid-year with Cairn expected to see up to 20,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

In Senegal, the firm completed its third exploration and appraisal drilling campaign and expects to pass “several key milestones” there this year.

At its Nova prospect in Norway, development planning work is ongoing and first oil is expected in 2021.

Cairn is also planning to drill four wells in 2019-2020 in Mexico where it has acquired new licences.

“These sit in very attractive acreage next to blocks where significant discoveries have recently been made and we have already identified several attractive prospects and leads,” said Thomson.

Thomson said all of the planned activity is fully funded.

“We have significant funding headroom, and we have already started to receive cash flows from Catcher and Kraken that ensure we retain our flexibility.

“We look forward to continued delivery of our strategy to create, add and realise value for shareholders.”